GAZA STRIP
Chimp goes to class lecture
A female student at Al-Quds Open University attended class on Saturday only to find she was not the first to arrive and had been beaten to it by a young male chimpanzee. Alerted by her cries, campus police called a nearby zoo and were told that one of its chimps had made a dash for freedom, the university said. “We had a surprise this morning when a fugitive chimpanzee from the zoo next door got into the university and began jumping around in a classroom, much to the consternation of students,” an employee said. The runaway was recaptured and is now safely back in his cage.
IRAN
Thief’s hand ordered cut off
A judge has ordered the amputation of the hand of a man who confessed to robbing a candy shop, local media reported on Saturday. The Fars news agency said the chief judge of a Tehran court also sentenced the 21-year-old man, who was not identified, to a year in jail and ordered him to return the stolen items. While the judiciary follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law, enforcement of punishments such as amputation is rare. Authorities occasionally issue harsh rulings in an effort to stem the spread of corruption and disorder.
ISRAEL
Jews, Arabs protest bill
Several thousand Jews and Arabs protested peacefully on Saturday against a bill requiring non-Jewish new citizens to swear allegiance to the country as a Jewish state, a reporter witnessed. The rally came after the right-wing government voted overwhelmingly in favor of the controversial legislation. Demonstrators marched through central Tel Aviv to the defense ministry, brandishing banners that read “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies” and “No to hatred.” An original proposal by Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman’s ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party would have required even Arabs born in the country to make the pledge and promise to serve in the military or perform other national service, but it was toned down.
ARMENIA
Longest cable car line opens
The world’s longest cable car line, a 5.7km engineering feat that spans a spectacular gorge to the country’s ancient Tatev Monastery, was launched on Saturday. Guests including President Serzh Sargsyan and the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Karekin II, took part as the cable car link launched its first official voyage over the Vorotan River Gorge. The link will allow year-round access to the 9th-century monastery complex, one of the country’s most important religious centers and a major tourist attraction. The Sandia Peak cable car in the US’ New Mexico state, which runs 4.3km, had previously billed itself as the world’s longest cable car line.
INDIA
Temple stampede kills 10
A stampede in a packed temple during a Hindu festival in the north killed 10 people and injured 11 yesterday, police said. About 30,000 people offering prayers to the goddess Durga had packed into the Tildiha village temple in Bihar state on the last day of the Navratri festival, Banka district police director Neelmani said. Four women and six men died in the stampede and another 11 people were injured and are being treated at nearby hospitals, Neelmani said. It was not immediately clear what caused the stampede. The 10-day festival is marked by ritual prayers and sacrifices of goats to Durga, the Mother Goddess in Hinduism.
UNITED STATES
Famous mathematician dies
Benoit Mandelbrot, a well-known mathematician who was largely responsible for developing the field of fractal geometry, has died in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was 85. His wife, Aliette, said he died on Thursday last week of pancreatic cancer. The Polish-born French mathematician founded the field of fractal geometry, the first broad attempt to quantitatively investigate the notion of roughness. He was interested in both the development and application of fractals, which he also showed could be used elsewhere in nature.
UNITED STATES
Palin ankle deep in snow
Hiking in the Alaskan snow, bear-watching, fishing, kayaking and family — that apparently is what Sarah Palin loves best, according to a trailer for her new TV reality show released on Friday last week. Better known for rallying conservatives and Tea Party followers at political meetings, the former vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor is the subject of an eight-part TV series making its debut on Nov. 14. “I’d rather be doing this than in some stuffy, old political office. I’d rather be out here being free,” Palin says in the trailer for Sarah Palin’s Alaska. The brief clip shows Palin having fun in Alaska countryside with her husband Todd and five children, kayaking down rivers, watching wild bears playing, and trekking across snow-filled hills.
UNITED STATES
Actor defends use of ‘gay’
Actor Vince Vaughn has defended the use of the word “gay” in his upcoming comedy The Dilemma after a week of controversy about whether it is a slur against gays and lesbians. Universal Pictures last week pulled a promotional movie trailer for The Dilemma, in which Vaughn’s character tells a joke calling electric cars “gay,” after complaints that the use of the word sent a message of intolerance at a time when gay teen suicides and bullying are in the media spotlight. Some gay rights advocates have now called for the entire scene to be cut from the movie, which is due for release in January. Vaughn said in a statement late on Thursday last week that he supported “the people outraged by the bullying and persecution of people for their differences, whatever those differences may be.”
UNITED STATES
Canadian smuggler jailed
A Vancouver man will serve 30 months in a Washington state prison for leading a snowshoe smuggling ring that tried to bring marijuana to Washington state on treacherous mountain trails. Richard Bafaro tearfully apologized in court on Friday, saying he had been forced to pay US$70,000 to drug suppliers after he lost a load of BC bud in the wilderness, which led him to smuggle more marijuana. The 45-year-old said that on one of the trips to look for the missing pot, one of his friends was badly injured and had to be airlifted out of the Canadian forest.
UNITED STATES
Sea lion shooter sentenced
A Sacramento man convicted of shooting a sea lion in the head will spend 30 days in jail and five years on probation. Larry Legans was also ordered on Friday last week to pay US$51,081 in restitution for the cost of treating the sea lion. Authorities say Legans shot the animal while fishing on the Sacramento River last year because it was taking his fish. The nearly 294kg sea lion, now known as Sergeant Nevis, underwent plastic surgery at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom last week to close holes in his muzzle caused by the shotgun blast.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in